A troche, or a throat lozenge, is a small, medicated tablet designed to dissolve slowly in one's mouth. Troches are commonly used to soothe a sore throat and/or inhibit a cough. However, depending on the troche's composition, it may be used to treat other medical conditions. Typical ingredients include menthol, pectin, benzocaine, eucalyptus oil, and honey.
Honey is an effective ingredient for certain applications of troches because of its natural antibacterial properties. Manuka honey, in particular, exhibits desirable antibacterial properties.
Manuka honey is produced by bees that frequent the manuka bush, Leptospermum scoparium, indigenous to New Zealand. Because of its uniquely high concentration of non-peroxide activity (NPA) components, manuka honey provides several advantages over the hydrogen peroxide-based antibacterial properties offered by other types of honey. For example, unlike the hydrogen peroxide-based antibacterial activity of other types of honey, the non-peroxide type of antibacterial activity found in manuka honey is not degraded by the catalase enzyme present in body tissue and serum, and it is not destroyed when exposed to heat and/or light or when it is deprived of oxygen.